It has been a heady week for French soccer — and for France. The French team’s 4-2 victory over Croatia Sunday marks the first time the country has won the World Cup in 20 years.
French-Algerian fan Karim Benmekhdar was among many celebrating in the streets — and feeling proud to be French. He said the team did a great job and went to the end. He said it’s not easy to win by 4-2 in a World Cup.
The team got a hero’s welcome Monday. Many fans lining the Champs Elysees in Paris mirrored the origins of Les Bleus, as the team is known: multi-ethnic and multi-cultural. More than half the players are of immigrant origin.
It seems like a throwback to 1998, the last time France won the World Cup. That team was nicknamed black-blanc-beurs — black, white and North African.
But the sense of social and racial unity two decades ago proved ephemeral. Then came nationwide rioting by ethnic immigrant youth from poor towns, protesting police brutality. Then the spate of home-grown terrorist attacks, largely carried out by youngsters from North or sub-Saharan African backgrounds. And then came the rising popularity of France’s far right.